Homeschoolers Help Huckabee In Iowa

ELDORA, Iowa — Julie Roe, an early believer in Mike Huckabee, worked with what she had. With no buttons, no yard signs and no glossy literature from his nearly invisible Iowa campaign, she took a pair of scissors and cut out a photograph of the former Arkansas governor. She pasted it on a piece of paper, scribbled down some of his positions, made copies and launched the Huckabee for President campaign in rural Hardin County. Roe contacted friends in her home-schooling network and bought a newspaper advertisement for $38. She spread the word in the grocery store and the church foyer: "I would tell them about Mike Huckabee and they would say, ‘Who’s Mike Huckleberry?’ I’d say, ‘No, no, no, it’s Huckabee.’ "

Huckabee’s name is no longer a mystery to Iowa’s
Republican voters, in large part because of an extensive network of
home-schoolers like Roe who have helped lift his underfunded campaign
from obscurity to the front of a crowded field. Opinion polls show that
his haphazard approach is trumping the studied strategy of Mitt Romney,
who invested millions only to be shunned by many religious
conservatives such as Roe, who see the former Baptist preacher from
Hope, Ark., as their champion.

While early attention focused on Romney
and other better-known and better-funded opponents, home-schoolers
rallied to Huckabee’s cause, attracted by his faith, his politics and
his decision to appoint a home-school proponent to the Arkansas board
of education. They tapped a web of community and church groups that
share common conservative interests, blasting them with e-mails and
passing along the word about Huckabee in social settings. It was the
endorsement by prominent national home-school advocate Michael Farris
that helped propel Huckabee to a surprising second-place finish in the
Iowa straw poll in August. And it was the twin sons of a home-school
advocate in Oregon who helped put Huckabee in touch with television
tough guy Chuck Norris, who appeared alongside him in an
attention-getting TV spot and on the campaign trail. Home-schoolers
could also prove to be a powerful force on caucus night. By one
estimate, about 9,000 Iowa children are home-schooled. Their parents
could form a sizable portion of the 80,000 or so Republicans expected
to show up on Jan. 3.

Huckabee’s apparent success
has been a surprise to many and there’s no doubt from this article that
homeschoolers are an integral part of his success not so much because
of their educational choices but because they rely so much on word-of
mouth to share information. Whether this campaign tactic leads to
success on January 3rd remains to be seen. But if it does, it could
fundamentally change poitical campaigns to focus more on word-of mouth
communication than more traditional forms of political advertising.

1 Response

In the closing days of a Republican race teetering between Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, strategists for both sides agree that Huckabee has enormous support among Iowa's evangelical Christians. What no one really knows, however, is what that will translate into on caucus night. Turnout is crucial, and Huckabee's campaign has not had the cash to build a campaign organization that can guarantee that his supporters will come out en masse. In essence, the once obscure Baptist preacher turned GOP insurgent is depending on, well, a leap of faith.
—————–
Lonetiowa drug rehab